


How Much Is Too Much?

by ArchangelDave (I_Want_to_Be_Your_Canary)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Fluff and Smut, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, It's Too Moody to Be Just Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 03:01:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4730327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Want_to_Be_Your_Canary/pseuds/ArchangelDave
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason always asks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Much Is Too Much?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Malkuthe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malkuthe/gifts), [Queenie_Mab](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenie_Mab/gifts), [CarpeDM](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarpeDM/gifts), [TalysAlankil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TalysAlankil/gifts), [LizThatsMe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizThatsMe/gifts).



> This is my first PJO fic. It's also my first fic in a long while. It's barely even a fic. But it's mine.
> 
> Let me know what y'all think.

"Is this too much?" Jason asked, the first time they held hands.

It happened gradually and more than half by mistake. They were sitting side-by-side on the hood of Percy's stepdad's car, watching their friends enjoy the sand and sun. Percy chased Piper through the shallows only to earn a dunking from Annabeth when he nearly plowed into Hazel's sandcastle. Nico's sister was taking great care in pulling shells up from the sand and arranging them to Annabeth's specifications, while Frank (with some obvious trepidation) threw around a weighty-looking stone discus with Clarisse. All of them, Jason included, were dressed in various degrees of beach-goer apparel and swimwear. Nico, however- not one for direct sunlight- refused to remove anything more than his bomber jacket, which he immediately propped up as an improvised day-shade in the branches overhead.

Even parked so close to the treeline, the car rapidly soaked up the sun's rays. The hot metal stung the back of Nico's knuckles- though it didn't seem to bother Jason's long, bronze, bare legs- and so before long, he withdrew his fingers to rest on his knee. Jason followed Nico's cue, settling into an easy cross-legged seat. There was scarcely any space between them: just a thin, measly barrier of air. Nico could close the distance with a twitch of his fingers if he wanted to. And by degrees, as the pair talked quietly about nothing in particular, Nico's hand dropped onto the back of Jason's.

For a moment, the world was very still.

Then Jason's fingers very, very carefully wrapped around Nico's- as if Jason thought Nico might be made of fine china- and he raised the question in hushed tones.

"It's fine," Nico insisted, squeezing hard. He fixed his chin determinedly toward the ocean, his eyes following the crest of white foam that was crashing down around Percy and Piper's dark, sea-soaked heads.

 

***

 

"Is this too much?" Jason whispered into Nico's hair.

Lately, Nico had taken to sleeping next to Jason. He knew that Jason assumed it was because of the nightmares- and the blond wasn't entirely wrong. When Nico slept on his own it was fitful and restless, and he woke up two or three times a night only to stare with sunken eyes at the shadows on the wall. But in Jason's bed, he almost always curled up like a teenager-shaped-log and snored the whole night through.

But other nights... nights like this one... he lay awake and just _breathed_ , eyelashes lowered as he hugged the bedspread and tried not to be so aware of the sturdy and impossibly solid presence at his back. And even more aware of the gap between them.

It was only a matter of time before Nico managed to wriggle, inch by inch, until Jason's forearm was pinned under his ribcage. And then it was a matter of seconds before Jason's other arm curled, faltering, around Nico's stomach. Fingertips ghosted across his abdomen, and that was when Jason sucked in an unsteady breath. Nico knew the words were coming this time, so his answer was on the tip of his tongue.

"Mm," he mumbled, pressing his face against Jason's rough bicep and letting his curls flop down over his eyes. "Go to sleep."

 

***

 

"Is this too much?" Jason blurted the moment their lips parted.

"Jason," Nico sighed, tipping his head back against the cabin wall and closing his eyes. " _I_ kissed _you_."

He listened to the in-and-out of Jason's lungs, felt the staccato beat of Jason's pulse under his palm. The signs were there. Muted, but there.

"I," began Jason, but he stumbled. His fingers crept gingerly up Nico's spine, making Nico melt and shake against the wooden panels- a reaction which seemed to catch Jason off-guard, because he froze. "I... Gods. Nico."

Nico felt the strangest, wildest impulse to bite him. To sink his teeth in and never let go. It was the kind of thought that ought to have horrified him, but which he found harder and harder to be properly horrified by as time went on. And it was hardly the worst thought he'd ever had about Jason Grace, either.

"Jason," he tried instead, wrenching open his eyes only to lock gazes with another pair- blue like lightning, infinitely wide and uncertain. "What do you want?"

 

***

 

"Is this too much?" Jason somehow managed to sound sincerely concerned even when his hips were shaking from restraint and anticipation. It was clear as day that his instincts were urging him to just go for it, but Jason was having none of it. His blond hair was matted with sweat and sticking up everywhere. Nico couldn't help sinking his fingers in and tugging, biting back hysteric laughter at Jason's question.

There were so many answers he could give.

_You might be hung like a horse, Grace, but it's a little late to worry about that._ True enough words, but Nico would never be able to say them out loud. His face was already hot and flushed as it was, his heart pounding in his throat as he tried to adjust to actually feeling Jason _inside him_. No good making himself any more embarrassed or uncomfortable than he already was.

Or he could say, _Yes, yes, it's too much. Let's stop now._ Because it really was a little more than Nico could process at once. Jason's callous-heavy hand on his hip, warm and steady, was the only thing grounding him against an onslaught of sensation: The smell of sweat and damp mattress, the stretching burn of unfamiliar muscles, the taste of precome going stale on the back of his tongue, the sunlight from the bedroom window filtering in despite his tightly squeezed eyelids. And above all, the churning in his chest that happened every time Jason touched him.

He could reassure Jason. _I love you. I want this. I'll be fine._ More truths. Nico still wondered sometimes how he'd gotten here. How Jason Grace of all people had ever decided that scrawny, creepy _Nico di Angelo_ was the one he wanted to spend his life with. The one he wanted like _this_ , naked and tangled up with him between freshly starched sheets. Jason could have had Piper, the daughter of Aphrodite. Or Reyna, praetor of the Romans. Jason could have had anyone. Jason could probably have had _Percy_ , who had by now become synonymous with _unobtainable_ in Nico's mind.

But when Nico found his voice at last, it was to utter the truest words of all:

"It's not _enough_ ," he rasped, arching his back and earning a shattered groan as Jason began fucking him in earnest.

It was never enough.


End file.
